[quote=Nathan]The Big O : Kind weird and rambling, but I like it. It’s like Batman, if Batman was a mercenary with a giant robot.

Yeah, Big O is savage. It was a bit odd at the start, I watched a few episodes and wasn’t too sure on the whole thing. The first episode in particular, while it set the tone left you fairly confused as to what the hell was going on, but the more I watched, the more I wanted to watch it. Especially towards the end it gets very good. [/quote]

Big O is what got me hooked on anime. I’d be watching it, and think I’d know what was going on, and then something would happen that would leave me all “what teh FUK?” and then I’d be watching twice as intently and start thinking I was understanding what was going on again and then something would happen that would “what teh FUK?” me all over again … The actual ending was a bit of a cop-out, although I’m not sure what I would’ve done with it instead.

I love the atmosphere in the show. The mixture of gothic and hard-boiled noir and cyberpunk is just marvelous.

Big O is what got me hooked on anime. I’d be watching it, and think I’d know what was going on, and then something would happen that would leave me all “what teh FUK?” and then I’d be watching twice as intently and start thinking I was understanding what was going on again and then something would happen that would “what teh FUK?” me all over again … The actual ending was a bit of a cop-out, although I’m not sure what I would’ve done with it instead.

I love the atmosphere in the show. The mixture of gothic and hard-boiled noir and cyberpunk is just marvelous.

Yeah, the whole thing twists and turns with pleasing regularity. And there’s absolutely nothing better than when the shit hits the fan and it looks like it’s all over and Roger shouts “NOW Big O”… you just know it’s going to be good.

I have been watching Kaze no Yojimbo, which is pretty good. It riffs on the plot of Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, as the name might have hinted. It takes place in modern times, and anything else I say about it is really a spoiler, so I’ll leave it at that :)

I also recently watched FLCL (Fooly Cooly), which is just 6 episodes of weirdness.

I just started re-watching Excel Saga now that I have the second season. The second season is weak in comparison to the first, but still entertaining.

Also, I have been watching the 4th season of Initial D which is currently airing in Japan. The fansubs are slowly trickling out, but I’m a little behind.

There can be some weirdness in Netflix’s inventory, but I have found they’ve gotten better in the last 6 months or so. It is weird to find that a disc is missing from the middle of a series, though. I’ve resorted to eMule to fill in the gaps when that happens.

I’ve watched the first three Gungrave discs. It’s AWESOME. If you enjoyed Trigun, Nightow’s other major series, Gungrave has a similar style. It starts out as something and turns entirely into something else while building up these multi-layered and awesome characters along the way. It’s also basically a mafia tale that turns into sci-fi insanity. I love the games. I love the anime. Definitely one of my favorites.

What’s cool is that you KNOW where it’s going, especially if you played the games. But the thing is you really have no idea how it can get there. How will it all unravel? Is anyone in it really a “good” guy? Brandon is one nasty sonofabitch but he’s likable and he’s also the guy you know will be “good” eventually but jeez… the stuff that happens with Millennium…

Watch it. I also think the english dub is far superior to the japanese. The voice work is fantastic and professionally done.

–Dave

I loved the first game, but sweet fancy Moses that thing was short. And the storyline wasn’t exactly very deep… still, maybe I should give this show another chance. Trigun is my favorite series ever.

Last Exile is really good. Wasn’t sure I was going to like it at first but it gets better with each episode. Alex reminds me of…

Captain Herlock. Pretty good but short series and a very unusual ending. Not that that is a bad thing. I actually liked it.

Berserk. Probably my alltime favorite. The new boxset came out and it’s only $70 or so. It starts out slow with a flash forward that confuses alot of people but stick with it. The ending is so weird. It’s a real shame they only did one season of converting the manga to anime. Dark Horse is slowly releasing translated versions and they are incredible. Anybody know if there is a chance in hell that they will continue this. Is it still popular in Japan?

Ninja Scroll the Movie…especially liked the poison kiss. What’s the verdict on the disc set?

It is a retellling of Alexandre Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo. The setting is far future, the Count is now the victim of an illness from deep space that makes him look like a blue-faced vampire, and everything is more over the top.

The way the Count revels in his malice, and the way he sets about gathering his vengance is just incredibly entertaining. The voice acting is very good, the visual style, while jarring at first, is interesting and really works for the story. It’s really just shaping up to be a masterpiece of a series. If it keeps one-uping itself every episode it will easily be my most favorite show ever.